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Raw partisanship poisons well of governance

GRAND FORKS — When the Republicans were blamed for the government shutdown that cost us billions of dollars, the Democrats all but danced in the streets. They offered no compromises.

Now that the Affordable Care Act has run into troubles, it is the Republicans who are standing back and cheering — doing nothing to improve the ACA, just working for it to fail. They’ve even run ads encouraging young people, who are needed to make the program work, to not sign up.

Currently, the Democrats are working hard to discredit New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. He, by the way, is considered a leading Republican presidential candidate.

Meanwhile, the Republicans are involved in the character assassination of Hilary Clinton. Coincidentally, she is the leading potential Democratic presidential candidate.

While I would agree that we need to hold politicians’ feet to the fire, I’m not sure we need to burn those politicians at the stake when there are so many other items that cry out to be addressed, including immigration reform, the minimum wage, food stamps and unemployment benefits.

Of course, these are in the interest of the people rather than the party.

Politicians seem to have perverted the Golden Rule, which is now, “Do unto others before they do unto you.” Another old maxim has become, “If you can’t say anything bad about your opponent, don’t say anything at all.”

Are other Herald readers as fed up with all this as I am?

During the next election I’m going to lean toward the politician who runs the fewest libelous and defamatory ads about their opponent and who, instead, concentrates on telling us about his or her own plans for bettering our country.

In addition, even if I don’t agree with the individual’s position on everything, if the candidate stresses the need for bipartisanship and compromise, that person will have my vote.